THE TWENTY-EIGHTH KISS Took First Place in the Beacon Contest!

I am singing and dancing and hugging my rabbit! My geeky, dark new adult paranormal romance took first place in the paranormal category of First Coast Romance Writers’ Beacon Contest!! I am so thankful to everyone who’s supported me: my critique partners, husband, and family. I’m really pulling for this story and hope to make them proud by publishing this strange, little piece of fiction, but we shall see. 🙂

Each time I get contest news, I like to write a bit more about my inspiration for the story, so I’m going to share about the gamer side of things. Since college, I’ve enjoyed hanging out with my husband and his friends who are retro-gamers. My job and writing leave little time for me to play games, but I’ve played many a game vicariously through my real-life, geeky husband hero. He spends a lot of time researching retro games and began collecting both systems and carts a couple of years ago. His collection is modest, but he’s got some great classic carts in there–mostly NES, SNES, and Genesis titles.

A few years ago, we noticed arcades like Yestercades of Red Bank and Somerville, NJ opening up. These retro arcades are a fun place not just for adults to relax and reminisce, but they seemed to attract a decent population of teenagers who were curious about retro games and really seemed to enjoy them. This echoed a trend I noticed on retro collection videos posted on YouTube where its not just Gen Xs reveling in the nostalgia. These incredible games hold appeal for people of all ages as they are timeless, fast-paced, and just plain fun.

This is my inspiration for Bess and her friends, characters in THE TWENTY-EIGHTH KISS. Freshmen in college, they are wacky, bright, and like nothing more than to chill in a local retroarcade. Of course, Bess isn’t really at a point in her life where she can be anything close to “chill.” And there’s the matter of her former academic rival, Serge, who shows up on the worst night possible and literally beats her at her own game…

Thanks, Allie! I felt the same was about Genesis a couple of years ago, but now I’ve got two (yes, two) that have joined the party of systems hooked up to our TV. My favs from the Genesis in particular are Sonic 2 (because Tails) and Streets of Rage 2. Do you have any retro favs?